David Allister Bennett (born 28 October 1970) is a New Zealand National Party politician. He was first elected the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Hamilton East in 2005, and became a

list MP A list MP is a member of parliament (MP) elected from a party list rather than from by a geographical constituency. The place in Parliament is due to the number of votes that the party won, not to votes received by the MP personally. This occurs ...

in 2020. He was Minister for Food Safety and Minister of Veterans' Affairs in final year of the Fifth National Government.

Early years

Bennett was born on 28 October 1970 in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

. He attended

St John's College, Hamilton St John's College is a state-integrated school, state-integrated Roman Catholic Diocese of Hamilton, New Zealand, Catholic boys' secondary school in Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton, New Zealand, with a school roll of 816 as of March 2019. The scho ...

before gaining an

LLB Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

and a BCA from

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

. Bennett owns two

dairy farms A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

near

Te Awamutu Te Awamutu is a town in the Waikato region in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the council seat of the Waipa District and serves as a service town for the farming communities which surround it. Te Awamutu is located some south of Hamilto ...

, and has also worked as an

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certifi ...

for KPMG, in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

Member of Parliament

Fifth Labour Government, 2005–2008

In the 2005 election, Bennett stood as the National Party's candidate for the Hamilton East seat. He was successful, defeating the incumbent MP,

Dianne Yates Dianne Fae Yates (born 29 November 1943) is a New Zealand politician. She is a member of the Labour Party. Member of Parliament Yates first entered Parliament in the 1993 election, representing the Hamilton East electorate. In the 1 ...

of the Labour Party. In his maiden speech, he remarked that at age 34, he was the youngest National MP elected at that election. In his first term, he was a member of the Transport and Industrial Relations committee. He was an associate spokesperson for transport under National leader

John Key Sir John Phillip Key (born 9 August 1961) is a New Zealand retired politician who served as the 38th prime minister of New Zealand, Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2008 to 2016 and as Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 2006 to ...

from 1 December 2006.

Fifth National Government, 2008–2017

Bennett retained Hamilton East for the duration of the Fifth National Government, defeating Labour candidate Sue Moroney three times. He was a member of the

Finance and Expenditure Committee The Finance and Expenditure Committee (known as the Public Accounts Committee until 1962, and as the Public Expenditure Committee, from 1962) is a select committee of the House of Representatives, the unicameral chamber of the New Zealand Parliame ...

from December 2008 to January 2017 (the last two years as chair), the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee from December 2008 to August 2014 (the last three years as chair), and the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee from 2014 to 2017. He was appointed Minister for Food Safety, Minister for Veterans' Affairs, and Associate Minister of Transport (outside Cabinet) after

Bill English Sir Simon William English (born 30 December 1961) is a New Zealand former National Party politician who served as the 39th prime minister of New Zealand from 2016 to 2017 and as the 17th deputy prime minister of New Zealand and minister of f ...

became Prime Minister in December 2016, and was additionally appointed

Minister of Racing The Minister for Racing is a minister in the government of New Zealand with responsibility for the regulation of the racing industry and betting services. The minister is also responsible for the New Zealand Racing Board, Racing Industry Trans ...

in 2017. On appointment, Bennett noted he was the first MP for a Hamilton electorate to become a minister since 1984 (when Ian Shearer completed a term as Minister for the Environment). He introduced the Government's Racing Amendment Bill in July 2017 but it was abandoned after National lost the 2017 election.

Sixth Labour Government, 2017–2020

At the 2017 general election, Bennett retained Hamilton East by 5,810 votes over new Labour candidate

Jamie Strange Jamie Ross Strange (born 1976) is a New Zealand politician. He is a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the Labour Party. Early life, career and family Strange was born in Nelson in 1976. At 12 years of age, he moved with ...

, but lost to Strange by a margin of 2,973 votes at the 2020 general election. Despite that loss, he was returned as a list MP. The National Party was in opposition from October 2017. Bennett held various spokesperson roles for the party, including food safety and racing under the leadership of

, corrections and land information under

Simon Bridges Simon Joseph Bridges (born 12 October 1976) is a former New Zealand politician and lawyer. He served as Leader of the National Party and Leader of the Opposition between 2018 and 2020, and as the Member of Parliament for Tauranga from the to ...

, agriculture under

Todd Muller Todd Michael Muller (; born 23 December 1968) is a New Zealand politician who served as the Leader of the New Zealand National Party and the Leader of the Opposition from 22 May to 14 July 2020. Muller entered Parliament at the 2014 general el ...

and

Judith Collins Judith Anne Collins (born 24 February 1959) is a New Zealand politician who served as the Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 14 July 2020 to 25 November 2021. She was the second female Leader of the Natio ...

, and economic and regional development under

Christopher Luxon Christopher Mark Luxon (born 19 July 1970) is a New Zealand politician and former business executive who is currently serving as leader of the New Zealand National Party and the Leader of the Opposition. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP ...

. Bennett briefly served as an Assistant Speaker of the House in August 2022. He will retire at the

2023 New Zealand general election The 2023 New Zealand general election to determine the composition of the 54th Parliament of New Zealand is planned to be held on 14 October 2023, after the currently elected 53rd Parliament is dissolved or expires. Voters will elect 120 memb ...

Political views

In 2005, Bennett voted for the Marriage (Gender Clarification) Amendment Bill, which would have amended the Marriage Act to define marriage as only between a man and a woman. He opposed the

Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill The Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Act 2013 is an Act of Parliament in New Zealand, which since 19 August 2013, allows same-sex couples to legally marry. The Act was proposed as a member's bill by MP Louisa Wall in May 2012, and wa ...

at its first and second readings in 2012 and 2013, but voted in support at its final reading in 2013. He supported the Conversion Practices Bill at second and third reading in 2022. In 2009, Bennett voted against the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill, a bill aimed at amending the Misuse of Drugs Act so that cannabis could be used for medical purposes. In 2019 and 2020, he voted for the Abortion Legislation Bill at all stages. In 2022, he supported the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion (Safe Areas) Amendment Bill at its second and third reading.

Personal life

Bennett was in a long-distance relationship with Australian senator

Bridget McKenzie Bridget McKenzie (born 27 December 1969) is an Australian politician. She is a member of the National Party and has been a Senator for Victoria since 2011. She has held ministerial office in the Turnbull and Morrison governments, also serving ...

and both are members of their respective countries' National Parties with Senator McKenzie having served as her party's deputy leader between 2017 and 2020.Bridget McKenzie: New Zealand enchants another National
''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'', 9 December 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2017. On 26 July 2022 Bennett announced his intention to step down from Parliament at the 2023 election in order to spend more time with his fiancee Nicky Preston and their first child.

References

External links

Official website
*
Profile
at National Party {{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, David 1970 births Living people New Zealand National Party MPs New Zealand list MPs Victoria University of Wellington alumni Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for North Island electorates People from Hamilton, New Zealand People educated at St John's College, Hamilton 21st-century New Zealand politicians Candidates in the 2017 New Zealand general election Candidates in the 2020 New Zealand general election